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Fun Things Friday: Making Yogurt in a Cooler

After having several yogurt makers ruin our yogurt-making attempts, I was thrilled to discover this method! I just might get a cooler exclusively for yogurt making! We use yogurt for smoothies, veggie dip and yogurt cheese. Here’s how to do it.

What You’ll Need

  • Milk (we use raw, whole milk)
  • Yogurt culture (that is the culture I used. Your starter culture instructions will tell you how much to use based on how much milk you are using. :-) )
  • Glass jars with lids
  • Cooler (a small one is best, unless you’re making several gallons of yogurt :-) )
  • Pot to heat the milk in
  • Thermometer (I use digital- it’s usually more accurate)
  • Whisk

What To Do

  1. Pour the milk into the pan and start heating it. Stir occasionally until the temperature reaches 110 degrees.
  2. While the milk heats, put your culture into a glass measuring cup and put warm/hot water (115 degrees) into the cooler until it’s about 3 to 4 inches deep.
  3. Remove the pan from the heat and ladle some of the milk into the measuring cup, whisking to mix in the culture.
  4. Once the cup is mostly full, slowly pour the milk with culture into the pot, whisking to thoroughly mix.
  5. Ladle the milk into the jars and put the lids on, placing each jar into the cooler as you go.
  6. Once the jars are all in the cooler, check the water temperature and add more water. What you want to do is fill the cooler until the water level is about 2 inches below the jar lids. Be sure to use the right temperature water to end up with the water in the cooler at the proper incubation temp. Most yogurts like the temperature to be between 95 and 110. My culture works best between 105 and 110, so I got the water just above the top number, 110.
  7. Close the lid and wrap up the cooler with a towel. Leave it for about six hours.
  8. Check the water temp and add a few more cups of hot water if it’s at or below the minimum temp for your culture. Rewrap the cooler and wait a couple more hours.
  9. To check to see if your yogurt is done, pull out a jar and gently tip it to the side a bit. If the milk looks somewhat thickened, stick the jars in the fridge and let them chill for at least six hours. If it’s still as thin as normal milk, make sure the water temp is good and give it a few more hours. The starter culture that I used cultured in 8 hours and is nice and thick, but some cultures can take up to 24 hours.

It may look like a lot, but it really was easy and the yogurt is perfect! Once you know how long your particular culture needs to do it’s thing, it’s a snap work yogurt making into your day.

Do you make your own yogurt? What’s your favorite method?

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June 29th, 2012 | Tags: , | Category: Recipes

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